Cherwell, Oxford (2025)

24/09/2025

Oxford University has ranked fourth in The Times’s 2026 UK university rankings. This is the first year that Oxford has failed to secure a spot in the guide’s top three – having ranked third in the newspaper’s 2025 ranking and second in 2024.

In the latest guide, The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and the University of St Andrew’s topped the table for the second year running. Meanwhile, Durham University, which placed fifth in the 2025 guide, ranked third, beating both Oxford and Cambridge University.

🖊️ Conor Walsh

Image Credit: David Hays for Cherwell

Have an opinion on the points raised in this article? Comment down below or send your 150 word letter to [email protected] to see your response in our next print!

Read the full article online at cherwell.org

19/09/2025

ChatGPT-5 will be provided to all staff and students at the University of Oxford, following a year-long pilot involving around 750 researchers and professional services staff. Oxford will be the university in the UK to offer generative AI tools to all of its students.

Students will be invited to join a shared workspace which offers access to ChatGPT-5, the latest model from OpenAI, as well as a limited number of custom GPT models specialised for specific research tasks created by other University members.

The GPT-5 model has been provided through ChatGPT Edu, a purpose-built version of ChatGPT designed specifically for universities. OpenAI advertises the product as offering “significantly higher message limits than the free version of ChatGPT”. ChatGPT Edu also provides additional capabilities compared to the free version, such as increased allowance for file uploads and data analysis.

🖊️ Joseph Rodgers

Image Credit: Arina Makarina for Cherwell

Have an opinion on the points raised in this article? Comment down below or send your 150 word letter to [email protected] to see your response in our next print!

Read the full article online at cherwell.org

16/09/2025

Oxford University has announced that Professor Mette Morsing will serve as Interim Dean of the Saïd Business School from mid-September, following the resignation of Professor Soumitra Dutta.

A University spokesperson told Cherwell: “Professor Soumitra Dutta has stepped down as Dean of Saïd Business School and has now left the University. Professor Mette Morsing, Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, will take up the role of Interim Dean from 22 September.”

According to Bloomberg, a five-month University investigation, which concluded earlier this year, upheld three allegations of harassment made by a female academic against Morsing’s predecessor, Professor Dutta. Dutta took medical leave in May, which was extended into the summer, before stepping down in September. Internal messages to staff seen by Bloomberg gave no indication that his resignation was linked to the outcome of the inquiry.

🖊️ Mercedes Haas

Image Credit: Rhys Haley for Cherwell

Have an opinion on the points raised in this article? Comment down below or send your 150 word letter to [email protected] to see your response in our next print!

Read the full article online at cherwell.org

11/09/2025

President-Elect of the Oxford Union George Abaraonye is receiving backlash for his positive comments on Charlie Kirk’s death. Abaraonye posted on his Instagram yesterday the statement: “Charlie Kirk is dead loool [sic.].” The post has since been deleted.

The Telegraph has also reported that Abaraonye wrote in messages to a WhatsApp group for the Oxford Union committee: “Charlie Kirk dead, let’s f—ing go.”

The Union has condemned Abaraonye’s comments in a public statement, saying “his reported views do not represent the Oxford Union’s current leadership or committee’s views”. They have emphasised that the Union “opposes all forms of political violence and strongly stands by our commitment to free speech and considerate debate”.

🖊️ Arina Makarina

Image Credit: Noah Robson for Cherwell

Have an opinion on the points raised in this article? Comment down below or send your 150 word letter to [email protected] to see your response in our next print!

Read the full article online at cherwell.org

11/09/2025

Oxford University has published a new webpage setting out its “approach to preventing and responding to harassment and sexual misconduct”. The page brings together policies and guidance on harassment and sexual misconduct, and highlights changes to key disciplinary policies which will come into effect this month.

A University spokesperson told Cherwell that its “comprehensive online resource” was published to meet new requirements from the Office for Students (OfS), the higher education regulator, which stipulate that universities “maintain a single comprehensive source of information” on policy relating to sexual harassment from 1st August.

Several key harassment and sexual misconduct policies were recently altered as part of a wider package of changes to Statute XI, which concerns University discipline. The new webpage presents Statute XI as a key source of guidance and also explains the procedure for addressing reports of harassment or sexual misconduct.

🖊️ Archie Johnston

Image credit: Feng Ho for Cherwell

Have an opinion about the points raised in this article? Comment down below or send your 150 word letter to [email protected] to see your response in our next print.

Read the full article online at cherwell.org

10/09/2025

You may have spent the last year wondering what has been going on amongst all the scaffolding and construction noise at Hertford College. The Hertford Archaeological Open Day on Saturday 6th September provided the answer, with insight into the building work and rescue archaeology that has been taking place behind the College’s walls.

Oxford Archaeology has been undertaking excavation at Hertford, a necessary step before the College can move on to building its new library and archival storage. Ben Ford, senior project manager at Oxford Archaeology, told Cherwell: “Part of our remit is to invite members of the public in to show them what we’re finding…the project is quite complicated, because there are a lot of different aspects to working together with construction.” This means that they will probably be working until Christmas 2025, having already been at Hertford for almost a year.

🖋️Antonia Rogers

Image Credit: Antonia Rogers for Cherwell

Have an opinion on the points raised in this article? Comment down below or send your 150 word letter to [email protected] to see your response in our next print!

Read online at cherwell.org

09/09/2025

A new political society promising to “facilitate the discussion of left-wing ideas” has been formed at Oxford University. Your Party Society, inspired by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana’s alliance, was announced in an Instagram post this week, and will follow a similar democratic structure to the national Your Party movement. Students who attend its inaugural meeting are expected to help set the agenda. The society’s social events have not yet been decided.

The government’s response to ongoing Israeli attacks on civilians in Gaza, as well as its approach to trans rights and welfare spending, are all expected to be policy focuses for the new group.

Callum Turnbull, co-founder alongside Esme Thomson, told Cherwell he wanted to see a “united front” of left-wing groups at the University, noting that no mainstream political societies had outwardly expressed support for Oxford Action for Palestine (OA4P).

🖊️ Amelia Gibbins and Laurence Cooke

Image Credit: Arina Makarina for Cherwell

Have an opinion on the points raised in this article? Comment down below or send your 150 word letter to [email protected] to see your response in our next print!

Read the full article online at cherwell.org

07/09/2025

Twenty-nine Oxford colleges have launched High Court proceedings against insurance firm Aviva. The case, which was filed last month, concerns Aviva’s alleged breach of contract through failing to pay out for losses sustained during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The claim will be heard in the Commercial Court, a specialist court of the High Court of Justice. All undergraduate colleges are involved except Corpus Christi, Merton, Oriel, Queen’s, Regent’s Park, St Hilda’s, and St John’s. Postgraduate colleges including St Anthony’s, Lincare, and Wolfson are also listed among the claimants, alongside several colleges’ commercial ventures. Amongst these are LMH Hospitality Services Limited and Magdalen College Educational Conferences Limited.

🖊️ Laurence Cooke

Image credit: Conor Walsh for Cherwell

Have an opinion about the points raised in this article? Comment down below or send your 150 word letter to [email protected] to see your response in our next print.

Read the full article online at cherwell.org

05/09/2025

The European Legal Support Center (ELSC) has filed a discrimination claim against the Oxford Union on behalf of Susan Abulhawa, Palestinian-American writer and activist. According to ELSC, the Union carried out “unlawful and unethical editing [of] the recording of her speech at the Oxford Union in a November 2024 debate”. Abulhawa attended the Union as a guest speaker, debating for the proposition: ‘This House believes Israel is an apartheid state responsible for genocide’.

“The Oxford Union’s decision to cut five key sections of her speech directly discriminates against abulhawa on the basis of her Palestinian ethnicity and indigenous identity, and anti-Zionist beliefs, in blatant violation of her right to freedom of expression,” ELSC have stated.

Moreover, the legal claim alleges that the editing may constitute breach of contract, copyright infringement, and defamation. ELSC told Cherwell their client will be seeking remedies including a declaration that the Union unlawfully discriminated against Abulhawa, an order requiring the full speech be re-uploaded, and “compensation for injury to feelings”.

🖊️ Noah Robson and Arina Makarina

Image Credit: Noah Robson for Cherwell

Have an opinion on the points raised in this article? Comment down below or send your 150 word letter to [email protected] to see your response in our next print!

Read the full article online at cherwell.org

03/09/2025

Missing the Fringe or wish you had been there? Take a look at our series of Fringe reviews! Peter Hardisty reviews 'Delusions and Grandeur'. Nicole Palka lets you know about 'Timestamp' and 'Do Zombies Dream of Electric Sheep'. Leon Moorhouse reviews 'Stand Upping Citizens'. Rebecca Harper takes a look at 'HOLE IN THE WALL L'HOPITAL'. Alexander Kwon tells you all about 'Aca-demic Weapons'. You can find more pieces on the website!

Image credit: Maverick Photo Agency via Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0, Prine Photography, Karen Cecilia and Emilee Lord, The Oxford R***e, Rob Jayne, Brendan Tran, Mimi Li

Have an opinion on the points raised in this article? Comment down below or send your 150 word letter to [email protected] to see your response in our next print!

Read online at cherwell.org

31/08/2025

R.F. Kuang’s 'Katabasis' touches on a range of near-universal academic experiences: impostor syndrome; frantic, caffeine-fuelled study sessions; watching someone effortlessly ace every single test you suffer through; and, of course, accidentally sending a professor to the depths of Hades. For the novel’s protagonist, Alice Law, all of these experiences are just a string of inconveniences standing between her and completing her PhD.

🖋️Charlie Stevens

Image courtesy of HarperCollins

Have an opinion on the points raised in this article? Comment down below or send your 150 word letter to [email protected] to see your response in our next print!

Read online at cherwell.org

30/08/2025

Around 50 protesters from Stand Up to Racism (SUTR) and other local groups gathered today outside a Holiday Inn Express near the Kassam Stadium to oppose a smaller anti-immigration demonstration. The counter-protesters rallied in support of the asylum seekers currently housed at the hotel by the Home Office.

Section 95 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 allows the Home Secretary to provide accommodation and support to migrants who are destitute.

Anti-racism activists arrived from around 2.15pm holding banners and signs, which included a St George’s flag emblazoned with the words “love asylum seekers” and a banner from the Oxford Green Party.

🖊️ Laurence Cooke and Peter Chen

Image Credit: Peter Chen for Cherwell

Have an opinion on the points raised in this article? Comment down below or send your 150 word letter to [email protected] to see your response in our next print!

Read the full article online at cherwell.org

Cherwell

24/09/2025

19/09/2025

16/09/2025

11/09/2025

11/09/2025

10/09/2025

09/09/2025

07/09/2025

05/09/2025

03/09/2025

31/08/2025

30/08/2025

Address

Website

Alerts

Contact The Business

Shortcuts

Share

Category

Our story